Thoughts, comments and observations about the Chicago White Sox from the Communications Department.

Catching Back Up

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Been crazy around here for a number of reasons, so trying to catch back up with this blog.

Crazy windy tonight. Game might be very interesting.

Former White Sox player Greg Norton was in the ballpark for BP today. Great to see Norty, who brought along his six-year-old son and a friend to the game. After retiring (makes me feel old), Norton managed at Class AAA for a couple of years before taking this year off to be with his family.

Robin Ventura, Paul Konerko and Mike Gellinger all made a beeline over to see Norton.

Stop Bullying Message

Special thanks to Brent Lillibridge, who visited McClellan Elementary School down 35th street this morning to send the kids an anti-bullying message and debut a new video released by the club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZkb-ZdLqsc

Fans who attend home games often know we feature a special “Hero of the Game” in the third inning when a serviceman or woman is brought out onto the field between half innings to be recognized by our fans and the teams. The always-touching moment features a standing ovation, and members of both teams (and the umpires) stand and applaud. We received this email from one of our honorees who is now back on duty in Afghanistan:

First Name: Michael

Subject: Hero of the game

Message:
On April 19th I was the Hero of the game. I’m in Afghanistan now and I wanted to thank you for all you did for me. It was the greatest feeling ever being down there and having the greatest fans in the world cheering for me. The only bad thing was I couldnt here what was being said. Is there any way I can get a script or video of what was said. All I heard was “Operation Iraqi Freedom” Anyways as a Service Member I think what you do for all the troops is great and I will never forget this. The Staff that made it possible, the chevy pride crew that guided me to the field, and the Players who also stood up and clapped all make serving this country the greatest job in the world and worth every sacrifice we make.

No, Michael, we thank you. God bless.

Remembering

With Kevin Hickey’s passing and funeral this week, we’ve now lost two important members of the White Sox family this season.

You’ll see our players wearing patches to honor Bill “Moose” Skowron and Kevin “Hicman” Hickey the rest of this season.

Losing Kevin was tough on our entire team. When the bagpiper began Amazing Grace at the end of his funeral service on Tuesday morning, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place. A tough, tough emotional day.

Hicman was one of a kind. Definitely South Side. Definitely proud to be a White Sox.

I was supposed to play golf with Hick and Mark Salas after our workout on April 5, the day Hic didn’t show up for our workout. EMT’s found him in his hotel room and rushed him to the hospital. He never really came back to us after that. Man, I will miss him.

AJ Pierzynski and Don Cooper showed great courage in speaking at Tuesday’s funeral. AJ talked about all of Hickey’s exhortations from the bench during a game (“Show him your credentials, Paulie!” … “Crown him!” … “You’re better than him!”) and remarked that Hickey would be the happiest guy in heaven because of the three-game sweep of the Cubs.

Cooper joked that Hickey probably was already nagging God. “What can I do to help?” he imaged Hickey asking incessantly.

No one worked harder. No one took more pride in wearing a big league uniform. Another dear friend lost.

Roland Hemond came up for the service and pulled a beat up sheet of paper out of his coat pocket.

“Look at this, look at these numbers,” he said to me, pointing at the line. “Hickey against George Brett, 0-15 for his career. Wade Boggs, 1-11 …”

Warming Up

“Hey, Alexei,” Ken Williams called out to Alexei Ramirez today as BP ended. “Look at the scoreboard. It’s 84 degrees! You don’t need to wait until June 1,” he said laughing.

Meta

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